Big cat and Bear tale

[Wolverine]

(04-18-2019, 07:25 AM)Rage2277 Wrote: sloth bears aren't grizzlies or polars which are way stronger than any big cat big male sloth bears would have trouble killing a leopard despite being more powerful let alone a tiger

Its really hard to believe that sloth bear who is 2,3 times smaller than brown bear could kill a tiger, probably this is the first such a case described. But the nature of tiger's injuries and especially the fact that one of the tiger's eyes was thorn out shows that the aggressor could be really a sloth bear. Attacking the head and especially the eyes of the enemy is the trademark of sloth bears. In 95% of all human victims the eyes and face are almost completely destroyed:

*This image is copyright of its original author

*This image is copyright of its original author

True, despite his long claws the teeth of sloth bear are not so big an its hard to believe that they can cause a deadly injury to tiger unless the bear is very lucky:

*This image is copyright of its original author

We have to take into account that unlike brown bears who due to long winter hybernation gather a lot of fat and the fat of brown bear consist up to 1/3 of its body weight, the body of sloth bear as a non-hibernating purely tropical animal consist almost entirely of muscles. If an average male sloth bear weights ar. 120 kg, a huge male with body mass of 150-160 kg is egual in muscle mass and rough power to 200 kg brown bear during the fall.
Nevertheless such an event should be something really exceptional, its hard to believe it, but in nature everything is possible. Reply